A blog dedicated to documenting my progression as a hobbyist, and my eternal indecision about what to paint next!

School’s Out and the Hobby Returns!

It’s been a month (and a bit) since my last post and first I would like to apologise. April/early-May is a manic time for University students in which we actually have to get stuff done! Months of laying about doing bugger all and suddenly everything comes crashing down as you realise you have tests or assignments due and you’ve accomplished…well sod all, really! (Disclaimer: I’d done most of the work, just not typed it up! Don’t try this at home, kids! University is too expensive to foul up!)

However as Uncle Alice once said, “School’s Out for Summer” and I have actually been able to get some hobby done! *gasp!*

My copy of The Horus Heresy: Extermination came through from a buddy of mine who attended the Forge World Open Day (seriously Macey, you’re a star!) and I started to modify my Raven Guard ever-so-slightly to fit the new rules – which are AWESOME by the way! The army didn’t perform so well last year (as long-time readers know), but the new rules and a little bit of tweaking and advice from my good friend Adam (who incidentally doesn’t even play) led me to design and field a 1,750pt infantry-heavy army to play my long-time (and long-suffering) gaming buddy James and his Emperor’s Children.

These games are always fun, but the outcome is usually decided in the first three or so turns depending on objective and which one of us is feeling the most daring at the time. Nine times out of ten during Heresy games, this outcome hasn’t been particularly favourable for the Sons of Corax. Tuesday was no exception. Turn 3 hit; I’d lost 10 of 15 Assault Marines; my Storm Eagle which had shown up, done nothing, and died; and about half my Tactical Marines. Things looked bleak…

Then something odd happened.

My Praetor, now sporting the Raven’s Talons (giving Master Crafted and Rending) for an extra +10pts over his normal Lightning Claws, went a little nuts… Captain Awesome (the Emperor’s Children Praetor) was the first to die, followed swiftly by his Bodyguard of Palatine Blades and the two 10-man Tactical Squads that made up the rest of James’ infantry. When the dust cleared at the end of turn 6; my Praetor was slightly wounded, my Assault Marines had been wiped out and only one Tactical Marine from each squad plus a single Apothecary remained to back my Praetor up. It had turned from a one-sided bloodbath at range into a one-sided bloodbath at close quarters. We totalled the Victory Points, and worked out that not only had I not lost; I’d won twelve points to six!

Following this game, the army needed converting to a 1,000pt 40k army using Codex: Space Marines for a game against the Manager of the local Games Workshop – a lovely chap named Steve. Raven Guard vs Iron Hands, what could possibly go wrong?

Following the same format as the Heresy game, of two Tactical Squads and one Assault Squad led by Shrike, I dove head-first into the challenge of fighting someone new. As my opponent had Plasma Guns, an Ironclad Dreadnought and Predators with Lascannons I expected the game to be bloody but ultimately see my Ravens gunned down at range. Big Guns Never Tire was an added problem but also an opportunity, those Predators being scoring would make capturing objectives quite painful… I could tell it was going to be one of those games where I went down fighting in an ultimately-futile gesture of defiance…

Not so!

Somehow (and God alone knows how) I not only managed to secure three of the four objectives and remove his Troops choices early on, but I also destroyed both Predators and the Ironclad. When the game drew to a close (having only taken a little under an hour even with Steve called away to do Managerial things), the tally stood at thirteen points to one in favour of the Raven Guard. The only victory point not secured: Slay the Warlord – Steve’s Master of the Forge with Gorgon’s Chain (his only model left aline) hanging on defiantly with one wound remaining. Steve’s only victory point: Slay the Warlord – Shrike having finally succumbed to a Servo-Harness strike after several rounds of combat.

So what am I saying here, exactly? Well I guess the first thing would be to never judge a book by its cover – i.e. never assume you’re going to lose because of how things look on paper! Second…is there a second…oh yes, Rending is AWESOME!

That’s all for this blog entry, as I’ve run out of things to say… Uh… I hope to be posting to this at least once a week until September, after that we shall see what my schedule is like!

Until my next post, check out these nifty Facebook Groups (that are going to be linked permanently to the blog once I’m done rambling!

Games and Theory is a content-driven, peer-review community that exists to promote the development of user-submitted articles and projects. In simple terms, that means Games and Theory exists for people who enjoy shared development of winning tactics, creative painting as well as insane modelling.